What's Really Required of HIPAA Compliant Email

Even though most of us understand the importance of HIPAA regulations, it doesn’t change the fact that, for many, compliance has been a hurdle at best and a hindrance at worst, particularly when it comes to healthcare workflow.

There’s no doubt that electronic health records (EHR) revolutionized the healthcare world. However, communication and the ability to share information and data is equally important to providing patient care and improving patient outcomes. Of course privacy and data security are vital, so finding tools that allow you to leverage modern technology and stay HIPAA compliant can improve communication and efficiency.

Quick Links

• What Does HIPAA Compliant Email Mean?
• Why HIPAA Compliant Email is Important for Patients and Providers
• What Does HIPAA Compliant Email Require?
• How the Right HIPAA Compliant Email Can Improve Your Patient Care and Compliance

What Does HIPAA Compliant Email Mean?

There’s really no simple answer and no single solution like end-to-end encryption and no clear cut answer for what is HIPAA compliant email. The HIPAA regulations that govern how email and other electronic communications are handled isn’t really one single rule or measure of oversight. Instead, it’s the assurance of both security and privacy when it comes to protected health information (PHI) and electronic health records (EHR) sent via electronic mail.

Why HIPAA Compliant Email is Important for Patients and Providers

Leaked healthcare data has the potential to be devastating for patients and providers alike. Not only is data its most vulnerable when in transit, but email itself is risky. In fact, 91% of all cyberattacks begin with an email. The clear math is that email is one of the riskiest, but most invaluable, tools in your medical or dental practice.

When messaging patients or partners, and sending PHI, your patients run the risk of having identifiable personal information compromised. In fact, PHI is one of the bigger targets for cybercriminals as that compromised information can then be used, or sold, to expose information or steal an individual’s identity.

Identity theft opens the door to a nightmare of potential problems. Stolen identities are used to take out credit cards, loans, claim tax refunds, and more.

While the financial impact on an individual with a stolen identity can be significant, costing individuals $6.1 billion in 2021, the cost to the businesses and organizations responsible for the leak is even more significant. In fact, according to an IBM Security report, the cost for healthcare organizations who suffered a data breach “increased by $1 million from March 2021 to March 2022 to hit $10.1 million. That’s up more than 40% since the 2020 report.”

So, when we ask why HIPAA-compliant email is important for patients and providers, we can look at the risk of email itself as well as the consequences of not securing PHI, especially in transit.

What Does HIPAA Compliant Email Require?

HIPAA lays out fairly clear requirements for data at rest. However, some of the regulations for data in transit are less clear. For example, end-to-end encryption is required to keep data secure for HIPAA compliant email. However, patients may opt-in for non-encrypted email if they agree to not hold the sender responsible should there be a breach. Still, there are a few important things for healthcare providers to understand when it comes to HIPAA compliance and emails.

• Emails with PHI should not be sent unless encrypted. You can encrypt either the body of the email or attachments, depending on where PHI is stored. Patient-initiated emails do not share this same requirement, nor do emails shared within a healthcare organization.
• PHI should absolutely never be sent through a personal email.
• Internet-based email providers like Yahoo, AOL, Hotmail and more are not HIPAA compliant. 
• ​​Business Associate Agreements (BAA) only cover data held on a server by the business associate. Your organization is still responsible for the rest of the journey (which is risky). That’s why end-to-end encryption is best.

And those are just the basics. HIPAA compliance also requires:

• Access Control. Restrict access to PHI to only authorized people
• Audit Control. Keep and monitor an auditable trail of email history and transmissions 
• Integrity Controls. Implement policies to ensure ePHI is not improperly destroyed or altered
• Transmission Security.  Implement technical security measures, such as encryption or an equivalent, to prevent unauthorized access when electronically sending ePHI 
• Authentication. Implement procedures to verify that a person or entity seeking access to electronic protected health information is who they claim to be before sharing ePHI

The bottom line is that your organization is responsible for protecting any PHI sent via email and that means making the safest and smartest choice to ensure that security. But, it’s also important to know that not all HIPAA-compliant email platforms are the same, or as safe. 

How the Right HIPAA-Compliant Email Can Improve Your Patient Care and Compliance

To avoid email challenges, many practices use secure portals, requiring patients to log in and out from a system where all PHI and messages are transmitted and stored. Still, others choose one of the encrypted email options available.

However, HIPAA regulations are pretty clear that what you need goes beyond encryption and your HIPAA compliant email solution should include fully encrypted cloud services with secure servers. 

Not only should you seek out an email solution that goes beyond simple encryption to keep your data safe, but find an email solution that provides higher level security and increased functionality.

For example, phishing remains  a viable threat. To prevent that, iCoreExchange secure, encrypted email, blocks unsolicited, non-provider senders, ensuring the security of your inbox and your patient’s data. Essentially, you must initiate any email conversation with a third party. That level of security helps you build trust with your partners and patients, enhancing communication and care.

Additionally, in attempting to add security, some email solutions limit the size of files you can share. Limiting your tools should not be part of your security stance. Sharing and communicating with your patient’s care team is a vital aspect of providing quality care and that means being free to attach as many files, of any size, securely and quickly.

The right email solution doesn’t just provide security and HIPAA compliance but it also enhances your services. Imagine data security, peace of mind, enhanced communication, protected inboxes, and a built-in referral network in one solution.

If that sounds ideal, book a demo with iCoreConnect to see how iCoreExchange can help improve your clinical workflow. Instead of HIPAA compliance being an obstacle, let us show you how HIPAA-compliant email can work for and with you.